The present invention relates to radiotherapy systems using ions (such as protons) for the treatment of cancer and the like and, in particular, to a system providing improved treatment speed and accuracy.
External beam radiation therapy may treat a tumor within the patient by directing high-energy radiation in one or more beams toward the tumor. Recent advanced external beam radiation systems, for example, as manufactured by Tomotherapy, Inc., treat a tumor with multiple x-ray fan beams directed at the patient over an angular range of 360°. Each of the beams is comprised of individually modulated beamlets whose intensities can be controlled so that the combined effect of the beamlets, over the range of angles, allows an arbitrarily complex treatment area to be defined.
X-rays deposit energy in tissue along the entire path between the x-ray source and the exit point in the patient. While judicious selection of the angles and intensities of the x-ray beamlets can minimize radiation applied to healthy tissue outside of the tumor, inevitability of irradiating healthy tissue along the path to the tumor has suggested the use of ions such as protons as a substitute for x-ray radiation. Unlike x-rays, protons may be controlled to stop within the tissue, reducing or eliminating exit dose through healthy tissue on the far side of the tumor. Further, the dose deposited by a proton beam is not uniform along the entrance path of the beam, but rises substantially to a “Bragg peak” near a point where the proton beam stops within the tissue. The placement of Bragg peaks inside the tumor allows for improved sparing of normal tissue for proton treatments relative to x-ray treatments.
Current proton therapy systems adopt one of two general approaches. In the first approach, the proton beam is expanded to subtend the entire tumor and the energy of the protons, and hence their stopping point in the tissue, is spread in range, to roughly match the tumor depth. Precise shaping of the exposure volume is provided by a specially constructed range correction compensator which provides additional range shifting to conform the distal edge of the beam to the distal edge of the tumor. This treatment approach essentially treats the entire tumor at once and, thus, is fast and yet less precise and requires the construction of a special compensator.
In a second approach, the proton beam remains narrowly collimated in a “pencil beam” and is steered in angle and adjusted in range to deposit the dose as a small spot within the patient. The spot is moved through the tumor in successive exposures until an arbitrary tumor volume has been irradiated. This approach is potentially very accurate, but because the tumor is treated in successive exposures, is slower than the first approach. Further the small spot sizes create the risk of uneven dose placement or “cold spots” should there be patient movement between exposures.